Using K16TL Fellowship Strategies to Steer Students to Success in Expository Writing
Elyse Zucker, Hostos Community College
Bio
I am an Associate Professor of English and when the program existed, was an Adjunct Professor in the Food Studies Program as well. My research interests include relationships between literature and psychology, American Transcendentalism, American Literature, environmentalism, and food studies. Always interested in improving my pedagogy and student success, I applied for this CUNY K16TL Fellowship, which has given me opportunity to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of teaching strategies and tools, considerably benefitting students.
Course Setting
CUNY’s Hostos Community College is a nurturing campus, embracing a diverse body of students. My College Now Expository Writing class in addition to learning to write MLA essays and read critically, drew on some extra-curriculum offerings to them, such as using the Library and partaking in the Student Symposium. Of the eight students who ever attended class, four completed the course and all --one identifying as female and 3 as male, ESL speakers-- were strong, assiduous, motivated learners, all enriched significantly by the PDSA.
Problem of Practice
An academic challenge I have repeatedly seen in my CN expository writing class is that although one or two students are up to par in their preparation, most feel stymied by the prospect of, ultimately, writing MLA essays and how to tackle the homework. This leads to a reduction in HW completion or even attempt, curtailing the necessary preparedness for the lessons. Students seem at a loss to know how to self-advocate, to ask for help or articulate obstacles. To get them to work at home independently, I will need to teach them strategies and steps in the class to break down work, and help them gauge their own proficiency.
How can I increase the percentage of students who do the preparatory work before class?
Strategy
I implemented many strategies, including Time Management ones used at the start of the semester, in which students kept charts of their responsibilities and a To Do list while given context by me about college life, such as that most of the work responsibilities falls on them to do independently. Students also faced obstacles to work by identifying and naming emotions experienced, helping contain them. They also on a regular basis filled out information pre- and post-lesson surveys, and wrote reflectively, guided by rubrics, about the level at which they mastered the task. Two strategies I used, respectively, every class or every week were Task Chunking and Check-Ins. Task Chunking made the material studied and essay writing process comprehensive. It removed the potential for paralysis that can result from a project viewed in its entirety. Students task chunked challenging reading selections by, for instance, breaking down syntax, identifying main points and how they relate to the essay prompt each unit leads to. Sometimes students worked in “think pair share” units to decipher meaning. Zoom Check-ins were invaluable in this small class, keeping students on point and enabling them to add another layer to their learning experience by articulating about it.
Documentation
HW assignment for selection in Unit One
I included one HW assignment and one student’s responses. The HW requests students use Task Chunking, having modeled on how it is done in class, and clues to decipher vocabulary. Questions also measure students’ ability to relate, in reflection, life to text, read analytically, following directions, modeling for paragraph writing.
Figure #1: HW assignment for selection in Unit One
Student Sample Paragraph
Introductory paragraph and header student wrote in response to an MLA essay calling for putting their self in either Sneed or Berry’s shoes, writing a letter to the other showing connection between their articles. Student included both titles and authors and a main point of connection, plus context of articles.
Figure #2: Student Sample Paragraph
Measuring Impact
Grade Progression
Using a different grading system than conventional, I’m providing an excel sheet showing a section of my final essay grades for #1 and #2 and homeworks completed leading up to these essays. Also graded: summaries of their Student Symposium presentations, a research project, an online final essay exam; participation grade.
Figure #3: Partial Gradebook
Outcomes According to Survey
Data used to measure student outcomes was acquired by providing students with pre/post surveys to assess their own learning levels and reflective questions in relation to their assignments including a rubric to help them gauge their progress. Revised essays and student reflection upon revisions is data I used as well.
Figure #4: Data Outcomes Measured in Grades and via Feedback from Students
Analysis
The strategies I used in my College Now class indeed promoted independence for the students. Certainly my class being very small was an advantage, as check-ins were longer, very frequent and my written and verbal feedback to students more fleshed out than in a typical sized class. Students not only learned content and skills but pedagogy as they drew on metacognitive thinking to see why I taught as I had, increasing motivation and predicting. And that I leveraged my personal connections to students, always validating, them added to their inspiration.
In addition to task chunking (sustaining good focus) and check-ins, the triad of using metacognitive tools as well as monitoring and assessing student progress with check-off lists, questions for short answers (the questions themselves provided data, showing me how well students related texts to life, and could think –and write—analytically) and reflective writing (sometimes with guidelines) was not only helpful to me in seeing gradating, nuanced changes in their work, but the students enjoyed the processes of always writing about and evaluating their learning.
That students internalized what they learned, which I modeled for them how to do (including giving them writing samples I created and sentence starters to choose from) was evident from the fact they did their homework and sought improvement in their writing. I feel the strategies did address the PoP since the students who remained increased their preparatory work. But how successful would my teaching have been had the class been full-size? Undoubtedly less so.
Recommendation
I think the optimal chance at motivating students to succeed employing these strategies is to begin the semester orienting them to the differences between high school and college class responsibilities. As we learned, college puts the onus on students to learn to work independently since most of the work done for college classes happens outside of the classroom, whereas in high school most takes place in class. Sharing this information with students will provide a new and needed learning frame. Reading about and understanding how the adolescent brain is less developed than the adult brain (in which hot emotions are fully developed) will help faculty understand, relate to their population, and helping HS students understand their emotional states whether it be via naming feelings or taking deep breaths to contain things –will provide a supportive, holistic approach to learning. I wish I knew this the first time I taught CN!
